Automation & Control Articles, Stories & News

CyberpowerPC today announced it will incorporate Intel's new Z77 chipset into its current lineup of desktop gaming PCs based on Intel's 2nd Gen Sandy Bridge processors. CyberpowerPC gaming systems based on the Intel Z77 express chipset motherboards start at $709.

CAYIN Technology unveils a new generation of dual-display digital signage player, SMP-WEBDUO. The new player is smaller, lighter, and more powerful. It can controls two screens and plays real-time video directly.

I'm a movie fan. I love Blu-ray and my Home Theater, and I want 4K. But I'm worried: all the signs point to the death of the optical disc.

10% of Canadians now have Netflix accounts. These are all streamers, as Netflix has no disc by mail service in Canada.

In separate news, Dolby's CEO Kevin Yeaman said Dolby generated 52% of its $790 million 2011 license digital audio revenue from non-optical media (movie and music discs), including digital TVs, set‐top boxes and mobile phones — up 27% from 2010. During the year the company licensed its Dolby Digital-Plus with streaming providers Amazon Prime, HBO Go, Netflix and Vudu. William Blair analyst Ralph Schackart commented "We decreased the optical business [outlook] by 25% in fiscal 2014, 15% in fiscal 2015, and 10% in fiscal 2016”

IHS's screendigest says "In 2012 Americans will pay to consume 3.4bn movies online. This equates to over 1bn movies per year than are consumed on DVD and Blu-ray combined - putting the final nail in the old idea that consumers won't accept premium content distributed online."

4K TV's will ship this year. There are already projectors and AV receivers in the market that support 4K, but I fear 4K for the consumer is just a pipedream. Are we really ready for another optical disc format war and is there a mass market for 4K? It pains me to say: "I don't think so". I really can't see Hollywood and the Consumer Electronics industry seeing a new optical format as a viable proposition.

Microsoft Research Asia recently released a few videos on their SemanticMap. While they don’t have plans to productize it for signage, I’m sure there will be many enterprising vendors who will.

The display detects both motion and gestures (no doubt utilizing Kinect technology). When a person is far away they see the most significant information in large, bold type. As they approach the display the type size dynamically decreases and the level of detail increases and further overlays are shown. This is similar to a GPS system’s auto-zoom function, where the detail increases as you approach a turn.

The overlays are dynamic, and updating in real-time, so could potentially show not just where a conference room is, but the schedule of events. Microsoft says their overall goal of Semantic Map is to “help people find their way around both physical and information spaces, by exploiting natural information-seeking behaviors and body movements”.

Digital signage promises timelier and better targeted messaging, but getting the consumer in front of the display is still the number one challenge. Marketing Group LLC has a novel concept to solve this problem: the Holographic Greeter.

Christie is helping create the standards for 3D HFR movies through formal and informal technology-development alliances with major producers and directors, post production facilities, studios and technology partners